Supporting device for rock drills



1944- E. H. DICKENSON 2,360,318

SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR ROCK DRILLS Filed Afaril 2'7, 1944 Patented Oct. 17, 1944 SUPPORTING DEVICE FOR ROCK DRILLS Ernest H. Dickenson, New York, N. Y., assignor to Ingersoll -Rand Company, corporation of New Jersey New York, N. Y., a

Application April 27, 1944, Serial No. 532,983

4 Claims.

This invention relates to drilling mechanism, andmore particularly to a supporting device for fluid actuated rock drills of the drifter type.

One object of the invention is to assure a long life of the pressure fluid and cleansing liquid supply conduits for the rock drill.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In the drawing accompanying this specification and in which similar reference numerals refer to similar parts,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rock drill supporting device embodying the invention,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal view, partly broken away, ofthe drill supporting bar taken through Figure 1 on the line 22 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows,

Figure 3 is an end view of the drill supporting bar taken through Figure 2 on theline 33,

Figure4 is a top plan View of the supporting device,

Figure 5 is an elevation, partly broken away, of a modified form of the invention, and

Figure 6 is a transverse view taken through Figure 5 on the line 6--6 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Referring to the drawing, and at first more particularlyto the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, designates a supporting device and 2| rock drilling mechanism arranged thereon for actuating a drill steel 22.

The rock drilling mechanism is shown as being of a conventional type. It includes a drifter 23 and a guide shell 24 whereon the drifter is slidably mounted, in a manner well known. The guide shell has the usual feed screw 25 for actuating the drifter 23 along the guide shell, and a motor 26 arranged at the rearward end of the shell 24 may be connected operatively, in any suitable manner, with the feed screw 25 for ro tating it.

The supporting device 20 is in the form of a column 21 having a cross bar 28 to support the drifter 23 and the shell 24. The column 21 is of the extensible type having a screw 29 threaded into its lower end and on the screw is a foot piece so having pointers 31 for engagement with a supporting surface, as for example the floor of a tunnel. The upper end of the column 21 is also provided with a pointer 32 for engagement with an overlying rock surface.

The cross bar 28 is secured to the column 21 by a clamping device 33 that is adjustable endwise of the column 21. The clamping device comprises a block 34 having opposed surfaces shaped to conform with the surfaces of the column 2'! and the bar 28 between which it is arranged. The block 34 carries bolts 35 that extend through end portions of a clamping plate 36 and carry nuts 31 for clamping the block 34 and the plate 36 securely to the column. The block 34 further carries bolts 38 that extend through a clamping plate 39 partly encircling'the bar 28, and on the bolts 38 are nuts 40 for clamping the bar 28 between the block' 34 and the plate 39.

Suitable and well known clamping mechanism,

designated in its entirety by 4|, is also arranged on the bar 28 to grip the bar and also a cone 42 on the shell 24 for supporting the drilling mechanism in the correct position with respect to the work. The clamping mechanism 4| is shiftable along the length of the bar 28 and includes a pair of bolts 43 for fastening the clamping members 44 and 45 to the bar.

The bar 28, constructed in accordance with the practice of the invention, is in the form of a cylinder the interior of which serves as a reservoir 46 for pressure fluid. The ends of the bar i the drifter 23. The conduit 53 is only of slightly greater length than the distance between the motor and the end of the bar, in the limiting positions of the bar, to prevent tautness of the conduit which will then at all times be suspended above the floor of the tunnel. The conduit 54 is also of only a short length required to reach from the conduit 53 to the drifter in the limiting positions of the latter and will, therefore, at all times be held out of contact with the abrasive surface supporting the drill column.

As a preferred arrangement the conduit 53 is connected to an "oiling device 55 shown threadedly connected to the head 48 and extending into the reservoir 46. The oiling device 55, selected for the sake of illustration, may be of the type forming the subject matter of United States Patent 2,225,324 to Fred M. Slater and has the usual channel 56 for the passage of pressure fluid therethrough to the conduit 53, The oiling device may be provided with a suitable strainer 51 at the inlet end of the channel 56 as an added safeguard against the passage of abrasive matter to the rock dr-ill.

In order to avoid the necessity of frequently dragging the cleansing fluid supply conduit for the drifter across the rough, abrasive surface supporting the drilling 'mechanism the cleansing fluid is also conveyed through the bar 28. To this end the bar is provided with a pipe 58 that eX- tends through the head 41 and the reservoir 46 and is seated at one end in a passage 59 in the head 48. The pipe 58 may be secured to the heads in any suitable manner, as by welding, and has an end 60 projecting from the head 41 for connection with a conduit 6| leading from' a suit able source of liquid supply.

A fitting 62 is threaded into the outer end of the passage 59 and is connected to a flexible conduit 63 leading to the drifter 23. The conduit 63 is only of suflicient length to follow the drifter to its various positions on the shell 24 and need i have only enough slack to avoid subjecting it to unnecessary strains. The conduit 63 will, therefore, at all times remain suspended above the tunnel floor and will, in consequence, be protected against damage and unnecessary wear.

In the form of theinvention shown in Figures and 6 the bar intended to support the shell 24 and the drifter 23, and designated 64, is shown as being provided at one end with a clamping element 65 for engagement with the column 21, and a saddle 66 cooperates therewith for clamping the bar 64 to the column, the tWo being secured together by bolts 61. In this form of the invention the pipe 68 lies entirely within the bar 64 the head 41 being provided with a passage 69 to receive an end of the pipe 68.

The passage 69 lies closely adjacent the clamping element 65, and in the periphery of the bar 64, closely adjacent the clamping element 65, is an aperture that opens into the passage 69 and has threaded thereinto the end of a cleansing fluid supply conduit 6|. The opposite end of the pipe 68 extends into the head 48 and communicates with the conduit 63 through the passage 59. Pressure fluid is introduced into the reservoir 46 through the bushing 50 which is threaded into the side of the bar adjacent the clamping element 65 and is threadedly connected to the end of the pressure fluid supply conduit 52.

In practice, and as will be readily apparent from the foregoing description, the pressure fluid and cleansing liquid supply conduits connected to the drifter 23 will, in all positions of the drilling mechanism on the column, be suspended above the tunnel floor and will, therefore, be protected against undue wear through contact with such floor. These conduits are, moreover, of short lengths and are for that reason less apt to become entangled with other portions of the drilling mechanism and require less handling and adjustment than in mechanism in which the supply conduits are extended directly from the sources of supply to the rock drill.

I claim:

1. In a supporting device for a fluid actuated rock drill, the combination of a column and a rock drill, a guide member for the rock drill, a reservoir for pressure fluid, means for securing the reservoir to the column, means for securing the guide member to the reservoir, a pressure fluid supply conduit for the reservoir, and a conduit for conveying pressure fluid from the reservoir to the rock drill.

2. In a supporting device for a fluid actuated rock drill, the combination of a column and a rock drill, a guide member for the rock drill, a reservoir for pressure fluid to support the guide member, means for securing the reservoir to the colurnn, a pressure fluid supply conduit connected to one end of the reservoir, and a conduit for pressure fluid leading from the other end of the reservoir to the rock drill.

3. In a supporting device for a fluid actuated rock drill, the combination of a column and a rock drill, a guide member for the rock drill, a reservoir for pressure fluid to support the guide member, means to secure the reservoir to the column, a pressure fluid supply conduit for the reservoir, a conduit for conveying pressure fluid from the reservoir to the rock drill, and means in the reservoir to introduce lubricant into the pressure fluid.

4. In a supporting device for a fluid actuated rock drill, the combination of a column and a rock drill, a guide member for the rock drill, a reservoir for pressure fluid to support the guide member, means to secure the reservoir to the column, a pressure fluid supply conduit connected to one end of the reservoir, a conduit for pressure leading from the other end of the reservoir to the rock drill, conduit means for conveying cleansing liquid through the reservoir, and a conduit for conveying cleansing fluid from the conduit means to the rock drill.

ERNEST H. DICKENSON. 

